


Crush

by Cottonstones



Series: Fanboy [2]
Category: Game Grumps, ProJared - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: AU, Crushes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 21:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6025744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cottonstones/pseuds/Cottonstones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been three months since Arin started dating the lead singer of Ross and Arin's favorite band, Ninja Sex Party. Ross is pretty used to having Dan hanging around, what he's less prepared for is when Dan's famous YouTuber friend (The same one Ross has a huge crush on) comes to visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crush

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for Ninjababypowpow as the third place winner in my [Fic Giveaway on my Tumblr](http://keenveins.tumblr.com/post/136208582066/keenveins-fic-giveaway). 
> 
> It is a loose sequel to [Fanboy](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4598409) which you don't need to read for this to make sense, but if you'd like to see how Arin and Dan got together I suggest checking it out!

Arin and Dan are having coffee with Ross at their favorite café in Little Tokyo. It's become a common occurrence, but Ross still can't quite believe that he's actually having coffee with Danny fucking Sexbang - or Dan, as Ross has learned that he likes to be called. It's also hard to believe that Arin is dating the lead singer of their favorite band, but Ross is (slowly) getting used to that.

Arin had come back to their hotel room on that last day of RTX looking a hot fucking mess and Ross had known instantly that he'd hooked up with someone. He just hadn't known that it'd been Danny Sexbang. It wasn't until they were on the plane flying back to California that Arin had finally relented and told Ross everything, spilling out in a rush that Dan had asked him to meet him in his hotel room, that Arin had had sex with him, and that Danny had wanted to see him again.

That had been three months ago and, true to his word, shortly after they'd returned to California, Arin had gotten more e-mails, which had evolved into text messages, into phone calls, into dates. Now the two of them are doing something that resembles dating and Dan has been hanging around more and more, enough that Ross hardly finds it strange anymore.

Ross comes back from the bathroom and notices that Dan is on his phone. Arin is sipping at his iced coffee, scrolling through his Twitter feed, his work having practically exploded since Dan's tweet endorsing his NSP animations back at RTX.

"Who's Dan talking to?" Ross asks as he drops back in his seat.

"A friend," Arin says with a shrug, like he doesn't care one way or another.

"Yeah, man, we're at...uh, no, the other coffee shop. Cool Beans?" Dan laughs. "I didn't fucking pick the name, dude! Oh, you're close? Okay, see you in a few."

Ross picks at his muffin as Dan tucks his phone away, slinging an arm around the back of Arin's chair. "My buddy is coming to join us. He just got into town. Hope that's okay?"

"Sure," Ross says, still feeling a hint of nerves whenever Dan addresses him. Arin had switched from fanboy to friend to more with ease, but there are occasions that Dan is being particularly funny or laughing at something that Arin said and Ross will catch Arin staring with practical stars in his eyes.

The doorbell jangles, and Ross sees Arin's eyes widen before Ross manages to turn around. He raises an eyebrow at him before he hears Dan's exclamation of "Jared!"

Ross seizes up, his blood freezing in his veins as he realizes that fucking ProJared is standing there, smiling at Dan and approaching their table.

"Oh, my God..." Arin mutters, amusement and disbelief clear in his voice.

Ross can't fucking breathe as Jared casually strolls to the table, pulling up the extra seat next to Ross and high-fiving Dan. He smiles at Arin before turning that bright grin on Ross.

"Hey, D," Jared says. "And you're Arin, right? Dan's told me a lot about you."

"Don't embarrass me," Dan mumbles, but Arin is already shaking Jared's hand.

Jared turns his focus on Ross. "And I don't think that I know you? I feel like I would have remembered your face."

Ross is sure that said face is burning a bright pink as his heart stammers, heavy and loud, in his chest. "I...um..."

"That's Ross," Dan supplies, a delighted smile on his face. Ross had found out recently that Dan really likes embarrassing him.

"Ross," Jared says, like he's testing it. Honestly, Ross's name has never, ever sounded better. Jared offers Ross his hand and Ross takes it. Jared's palm is soft and warm as they shake hands. "Nice to meet you, man."

"I..." Ross says, his brain straining to catch up. Jared is his favorite YouTuber. He was nervous meeting Dan and still feels jittery despite the two of them having a stronger connection now, but those nerves feel nothing like this, like the raw panic of having Jared right next to him, shaking his hand. "You, too?"

Jared smiles, a small laugh ringing out. Ross can feel his cheeks burning. Lucky for him, Jared's attention is drawn back to Dan, who's asking how Jared's flight had been. Ross tries to pick at his muffin, but his appetite is all but gone, his nerves getting the better of him.

"Oh," Jared says, his gaze directed to Arin now. Ross tries to focus on the conversation. "I saw your animations on Dan's Twitter. They're really good, man!"

Arin nods, grateful, a smile blooming across his face. "Thanks! My friend Ross here animates, too."

Ross looks up at Arin, eyes widening. How could Arin drag him into the conversation? Hadn't he seen the way that Ross had already embarrassed himself? And now he brings up animation?

Jared's face lights up as he turns to Ross. "You do? Anything that I might have seen?"

"Well...I'm working on a show," Ross says, trying to sound confident because this show idea is his baby and he's proud of it. "A, um, cartoon about video games?"

Jared's eyes sparkle with excitement and Ross can feel himself losing all of the air in his lungs. How many times has he watched Jared's show and witnessed him making that same face? He forces himself to calm down and play it cool. This is a great opportunity and he can't squander it by acting like an idiot.

"That sounds awesome!" Jared says. "I'd like to hear more, you know, unless it's top secret?"

Ross smiles. Now that the focus has shifted to his work, his show, he calms a bit. It's still intimidating as fuck to have Jared right here and interested in his work, though. Ross has always considered himself to be a pretty level-headed fan, not one to embarrass himself, but he's never felt like such an awkward mess around _anyone_ before.

"Um, no, it's not...it's called, ah, Gameoverse?

"Oh, like, 'game over'? Cool!"

Ross nods, cheeks warming. Jared is still listening and, across the table, Dan is smiling like a fucking idiot, his hand creeping up to curl around Arin's shoulder. Ross explains the basics - his characters, his ideas - and Jared listens to him with interest. It's not even polite interest, it's, like, _genuine_ interest that has Ross's stomach going all hot and tight.

He isn't sure how long that he and Jared talk before Dan coughs, interrupting them.

"Brian just texted me and said that they're all set up at the warehouse if you want to go check it out, Jared," Dan says.

Jared nods, glancing at Ross but smiling at Dan. "Sure, dude. Sounds good."

Dan turns to Arin. "That okay?"

Arin nods, a soft smile drifting across his face whenever he looks at Dan. Ross would make fun of him if he weren't paralyzed by nerves from being around Jared.

"Yeah, the video was sort of the whole reason that Jared even flew out here," Arin reminds Dan.

Dan nods and drops a tender little kiss on the top of Arin's head. "I'll text you in a bit."

Arin nods, his cheeks flushing at Dan's display of affection.

"Bye, Dan," Ross says weakly.

Jared stands along with Dan, shaking Arin's hand and telling him that it was nice to meet him. Ross stands, too, and Jared offers his hand to him again, his palm still warm against Ross's. Ross swears that he feels Jared squeeze lightly.

"It was nice meeting you, Ross," Jared says, his voice soft and kind.

Ross nods like an idiot. "You, too, man."

"Keep up on that show! I want to watch it!" he adds as he releases Ross's hand.

Ross can only nod again as he watches Dan and Jared bid their goodbyes and head out of the café, leaving Arin and Ross there. Ross doesn't feel completely normal until Jared has climbed into Dan's car and taken off.

He wheels around on Arin. "Did you know that that was going to happen?" he practically hisses.

"No!" Arin says, but he's laughing, his hands sliding up in surrender. "I swear, Ross. Dan just said that he had a friend coming to film something with him. I had no clue that it was fucking ProJared, your number-one YouTube crush."

"Shut up!" Ross snaps, but he definitely remembers giving Arin a ton of shit about his crush on Dan, so he's guessing that this is only fair, some kind of punishment doled out by karma. He cradles his head in his hands and whines weakly against his palms. "I acted like a fanboy, didn't I?"

"No!" Arin says. "You didn't even ask about his shit. You guys were talking about your animation the whole time. He seemed into it."

Ross peeks at Arin through his fingers. "He was being _nice_ ," he says, his voice muffled slightly by his hands, "because he's a nice guy."

Arin shakes his head, looking at Ross with fond amusement.

"Not everyone's like Dan," Ross says. "They don't all fall for their fans."

Arin shrugs, finishing off his drink and wiping at his mouth. "You ready to get out of here?"

Ross nods. His talk with Jared, though embarrassing, had inspired him, and now he wants to go home and work on his animation.

The whole ride back to his and Arin's apartment, Ross daydreams about the day that he finishes his project and can show Jared the end product.

Ross feels oddly jittery, full of energy; he can't stop smiling over the fact that he met Jared and got to talk to him for so long. Once home, he goes to his room and starts working on his show, even hopping onto Twitch to talk to some people from the animation groups that have been following his progress. He doesn't mention Jared, but he does say that he met someone that certainly served as inspiration.

It's later into the day when Ross distantly hears the front door opening and closing and the light rumble of Dan's voice, filtered down the hall and through Ross's cracked bedroom door. It's not the first time that Dan's stopped by Arin and Ross's apartment. Ross remembers the first time that Dan had slept over. Ross had padded out into the kitchen the next morning, bleary-eyed and in his underwear to grab some cereal, and there was Danny fucking Sexbang, sleep-mussed and drinking tea at the kitchen table. Ross had squawked in surprise and nearly dropped his box of Frosted Flakes.

He's more used to these random drop-ins, but, right now, his heart speeds up, his ears pricked for sounds of Jared's voice. He's disappointed to hear only Dan out in the living room, meaning that Jared must have stayed at a hotel or decided to visit other friends. He likely had much better things to do than hang around Dan's boyfriend's place.

\--

The next day, Ross is lazing around the house when he hears his phone chime. He pads over to the device and scoops it up, seeing an unfamiliar number blinking across the screen. Ross cocks an eyebrow and opens the message.

_Hey, Ross! It's Jared. I asked Dan to give me your phone number. I hope that that's alright. I just had a great time talking to you yesterday and would love to hang out sometime. You can show me your show! :) - Jared_

Ross's heart stutters in his chest, his breath all but gone. Jared's texting him? Jared wants to hang out again? His head spins, Arin's teasing flitting through the back of his head. No, there's no way that Jared was, like, hitting on him. He was just being nice, making a connection; it didn't mean anything.

Still, Ross is giddy, nervous, as he types out his response.

_Hey! No problem, man! It was great meeting you! I'd love to hang out again sometime. When are you leaving for Texas?_

Ross flinches as he hits "send," realizing that Jared hadn't actually told him that he was from Texas. He's already displaying his wealth of knowledge about Jared. His stomach hurts a little from the nerves, from how badly he doesn't want to screw this up.

Jared's reply comes pretty quickly. Ross is anxious, sweating, utterly terrified to even open the text.

_Soon, unfortunately. Tomorrow. I came here just to film with Dan, but I wish that I could stay longer now that I've met all of these great people, you definitely included._

Ross's heart jumps to his throat, his eyes widening a little at the message. He has to be reading into things here. Jared isn't hitting on him. It's impossible, laughable. Still, he scrounges up every single ounce of confidence in his body and, with shaking fingers, taps out a reply that he may end up regretting.

_Are you busy today? I could show you around Little Tokyo if Dan hasn't already._

Ross sends the message before he can change his mind or chicken out. It isn't weird; he's being friendly. He wants to get to know Jared more and Jared has said the same. Ross can barely breathe as he waits for the reply from Jared.

_Sure, that sounds great, Ross. We can meet there in a couple of hours?_

Ross is giddy, can feel the huge, dumb grin on his face as he answers.

_Absolutely._

After setting up plans with Jared, Ross rushes to his room, heart beating wildly in his chest. He wants to wake Arin up, but then he might be greeted to the sight of him and Dan wrapped up in each other, bare-ass naked, so he settles for screaming his delight at Arin later and personally thanking Dan for passing on his number to Jared.

Ross isn't sure what’s going to happen in Little Tokyo with Jared. He'll show him the restaurants that he likes, the stores, but, beyond that, he has no clue. He's more than happy just to have the chance to hang out with Jared again.

Ross doesn't know what's going to happen with them, but he absolutely can't wait to find out.


End file.
